Books, reading and anything else that comes to mind…with an Australian focus

Kibble and Dobbie Literary Awards 2018 Shortlists announced

June 5, 2018

I don’t regularly report on every Australian literary award – there are just too many – but as a supporter of Australian women writers, I’ve long been interested in the Nita B Kibble Literary Awards for Women Writers (a mouthful, eh?) They comprise two awards: the Kibble ($30,000) for established writers, and the Dobbie ($5,000) for debut authors. These awards were established in 1994 by Nita Dobbie, in the name of her aunt Nita Kibble who was the first woman librarian at the State Library of New South Wales. Dobbie, who was brought up by her aunt, followed her into librarianship, and shared her love of Australian women’s writing. The awards are now awarded biennially.

Besides being restricted to female authors, the awards are specifically for “life writing”, which is very broadly defined and can include both fiction and non-fiction. So, the shortlists:

Fiona McFarlane’s The high places (I should read this, given it’s a short story collection and has been so well reviewed).

As much as I love The hate race, and believe that de Kretser’s book and McFarlane’s are excellent, I would love to see Garner win because Everywhere I look is a wonderful read, and because Garner has, arguably, set the benchmark for contemporary life-writing in Australia, across multiple forms.

I can’t remember when I’ve last read a significant proportion of the books shortlisted for an award, so I’m particularly thrilled about these two lists! Moreover, as those of you who read my post on Troppo know, its listing is exciting for my reading group because Dickie is the daughter-in-law of one of our founding members (albeit, unhappily for us, she’s moved out of state now.) Given the number of debut books published over the last two years, it’s a wonderful achievement (for her, and the other two writers) to have been shortlisted.

This year’s judges are the literary critic Elizabeth Webby, State Library of New South Wales representative Rachel Franks, and the author Eleanor Limprecht (whose Long Bay and The passengers I’ve reviewed here.) The winners will be announced on July 25.

Only one of those is Memoir – The hate race. I don’t mind memoir if it’s not self-indulgent. The hate race is one of those stories that needs to be told – I think, and because Maxine Beneba Clarke is also a poet and short fiction writer, it is written with some style. But, as you know I know, there’s just so much to read!

Unfortunately, I can’t use that excuse. I just don’t get as much time to read as I’d like. For example in the last two days I’ve managed to read about 30 mins. Terrible. You don’t get through many books at that rate.

Hi Sue, I haven’t read Troppo but I would like Garner to win. She is so honest, and her writings are so rewarding. I also hope Krasnostein wins. Her research and dedication to Sandra’s story is fascinating. Retirement is great even though I am not reading as many books. I am reading more newspaper articles and googling more!

You’re not reading as many books either Meg? What’s wrong with us. I am so busy, that I just don’t get the “real” book reading time. Some days I only manage 30 mins before bed! I read more when my kids were little and I could read while they were at music lessons etc. Some women would rush home, do a bit of housework, and come back, but not me. I’d sit, and read!!

Hi Sue, I only now read at night after dinner or early morning. Like you, I am now involved in so many things I am never home much during the day. Though, when I house and dog sit for family in Queensland and soon in Tasmania for a month I will read more books. Only a dog and chooks to distract me!

Other Blogs

You might be interested in ...

This blog was Freshly Pressed

Click badge for the Challenge website

Copyright on images used in this blog

I am careful about the images I use in this blog. Some of them are my own, some I've specifically obtained permission to use from an owner, and some book cover thumbnails are used under fair use provisions. However, I have used others under Creative Commons (and similar licences) when the owners have indicated on their sites/pages that they release their material under such licences. Where possible, I have tried to properly attribute the owners/creators of uploaded images. If you think I have breached your copyright in any way please let me know.

Any photos not attributed to others or to public domain are mine. Unless otherwise specified, you are welcome to use them under the Creative Commons license described under Copyright on my content above